


Consider The Gaang

by AvocadoLove



Series: Consider Chaos [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Badass Sokka (Avatar), Chaos Avatar Zuko, Gen, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Sokka is the spirit-sensitive equivalent to force-sensitive Han Solo, Spirits, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25995091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: Sokkaknowssomething has shifted in the world since the Siege of the North... but he can't quite put his finger on what it is.
Relationships: Sokka & The Gaang (Avatar)
Series: Consider Chaos [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853452
Comments: 139
Kudos: 1719
Collections: Finished111





	Consider The Gaang

**Author's Note:**

> I'm about halfway through the 'Water' chapters, but wanted to take a quick break to see how the Gaang was doing...

"I think we might be cursed," Sokka blurted.

Katara, who was in the middle of sewing a hole in a sock closed, looked across the campfire at him and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't believe in curses, Mr. Science."

"I don't." He winced and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I _didn't_ ," he clarified. "But the evidence is starting to suggest otherwise."

Katara set down her needle and thread and shot him an exasperated look. "What evidence?"

"What do you mean? Haven’t you noticed that everything has gone wrong since the North Pole?”

"Sokka, you're being over-dramatic."

He counted the disasters off on his fingers. "First there was General Fong—Okay, maybe he was just crazy. But then Omashu falls, Bumi stays locked up by his choice, which I still don't get. Then we got knocked into a swamp with freaky visions which leads Aang convinced that his earthbending teacher is some random girl. We go through all that nonsense getting her onboard only for her to disappear into thin air. Poof! Just when we get chased by Zuko's little sister who is at least twenty-five times scarier than he ever was. We barely escape with our lives, and finally decide: You know what, maybe we've been going about this all wrong and we already know a few friendly earthbenders. So we turn around, and travel for days back to the Mo Ce Sea mining village only to find, oops, Tyro has gone to fight the war—“

"Haru is a great earthbending teacher," Katara said loyally and rather unfairly because... seriously, the guy was _okay_ at best. Not incredibly talented and certainly not a master. He’d been willing to teach Aang what he knew of the basics, which was the best deal they’d gotten so far.

But Sokka _knew_ Aang needed more than the basics to take out the Fire Lord by the time the comet came.

"Oh yeah?" Sokka demanded, "Then why hasn't Aang been able to earthbend yet? They've been working on it for like a week."

They both glanced down the hill where the two boys stood in a horse-stance, practicing at bending some broken shale. Or, at least, Haru was practicing. Aang half-heartedly punched a few times, shrugged, and then zipped around the small quarry on top a ball of air.

"Air and earth are fundamental opposites," Katara said. "It was always going to be harder Aang to learn."

"I get it, but—“

"No offense, but I don't think you do."

Annoyance cut through him like a good bone knife through arctic berry-butter. "Are you suggesting this is a bender thing?"

Katara had the grace to drop her gaze. Then her expression firmed. "You're focusing on the negatives. Yes, those things happened, but they were all events on our journey, Sokka. Not disasters."

"No, it's... off, somehow. It's..." He gripped the sides of his wolf-tail, frustrated. The word for what he felt was at the tip of his tongue and yet a hundred miles away. As much as he tried and tried, he couldn't chip them out of the ice.

"Something _changed_ the night we lost Yue. Can't you feel it?"

Katara gave him a soft look. "I know you two were close. I’m so sorry."

"This isn't about her," he snapped, ruffled and feeling a familiar throb in his heart. "You're seriously telling me you don't feel it, too?"

"Feel what?"

Like the charged moment when lightning split the air. When pitch-black night became bright as day and everything he thought was unfamiliar became real and visible again for just that second. Except... nothing was supposed to be unfamiliar at all. So what had happened? What had changed?

"Sokka," Katara said in a sympathetic tone that grated because she didn't _get_ it. "What happened to Yue wasn't your fault."

She reached for him, and he pulled away.

"Forget about it," he said, standing and unholstering his boomerang. "I'm going to hunt dinner."

After all, there were four of them on this crazy journey now, and Haru didn't hunt. It was up to him, as the leader, to feed them all.

"Make sure you gather any fruits or nuts for Aang, too," Katara reminded him.

Sokka nodded and forced himself to ignore the lingering feeling that would not go away. The certain knowledge that the world was different, and Sokka seemed to be the only one who could feel it.

Down the hill, Aang and Haru gave a loud cheer as the shale shifted.

* * *

Aang celebrated his success at finally working past his earthbending block by declaring he needed a vacation.

"A vacation?!" Sokka thought in despair of all his carefully mapped routes through the Earth Kingdom and schedules. He even had a count-down to when Sozin's comet was supposed to appear, though he didn't bring it up because it upset Katara and Aang. "Where can we even go on vacation? The whole world is at war!"

"Oh, I know a great place, Sokka," Aang said blithely. "It's called the Misty Palms Oasis. I used to go there with Monk Gyatso. It's great!"

"That sounds wonderful," Katara said. "Seems like a place you can work on your waterbending, too."

Aang nodded. "It's a lot of fun."

"I've never been on a vacation," Haru said, stroking his chin. He told Sokka he was trying to grow out a beard, but all he had managed so far was a wispy looking mustache.

Sokka looked at them all and sighed. He knew when he was outvoted. "Fine. Misty Palms Oasis, it is."

* * *

The Misty Palms Oasis... well, Sokka would have called it a letdown, but he hadn't been enthusiastic about it, anyway.

There was a seedy-looking bar nearby that they went to for kicks because the day was very hot. This part of the Earth Kingdom was going through an unusual spring heat-wave.

However, they had barely stepped inside before a familiar severe older man stood from the bar and stepped in their path.

"Master Jeong-Jeong!" Aang gasped and then hastily bowed.

"Avatar Aang," Jeong-Jeong said in greeting and then nodded to Sokka, Katara, and Haru. "I am most surprised to see you here."

 _Then why doesn't your face show it?_ Sokka thought.

They shared a meal with the firebending master that night. Aang chattered on about all that had happened since they’d seen him last, completely ignoring Jeong-Jeong's stern, one-word replies.

 _He's the real life of the party_ , Sokka thought.

Eventually, Aang wound his story down, and Jeong-Jeong didn't seem to have anything to say about his own journeys. Awkwardly, Aang, Katara, and Haru bid the master goodnight and headed to Appa to grab their sleeping bags.

Sokka chose to stay near the campfire. The moon was up, full and unusually bright. He wasn't ready to sleep yet.

Jeong-Jeong, who had been sitting in meditation in the lotus position, spoke. "You feel it, don't you?"

Sokka shot him a wary look. "Feel what?"

Jeong-Jeong's eyes slit open. They reflected the flames. "You are the spirit touched one of the group, are you not?"

Sokka barked out a laugh. "Who, me? No! Nooooo way."

"But you have interacted with spirits."

"No," he said again, and then added, "I mean, _yes_ , spirits touched me—in a kidnapping sort of way. One took me to the spirit world, which has no restrooms by the way. Then, my first girlfriend sort of turned into the moon…" he trailed off with a shrug.

Jeong-Jeong leveled an unimpressed look at him. "You have walked among the spirits in their world—“

"So did about half the village!"

"But you remembered your experience. Did they?"

Sokka opened his mouth and shut it again. Come to think of it, no one there mentioned the spirit world at all, and some of them had been held captive for weeks. He, Katara, and Aang had to leave quickly to make the Winter Solstice in the Fire Nation, but… it seemed like someone should have mentioned something. Like, hey, remember when we were wondering forever in a nightmarish world that never seemed to end? Good times, am I right?

As for Sokka, he just wanted to forget. It had been creepy.And swampy. And all the tasty-looking “animals” had wanted to hunt him back. Very stressful.

"And," Jeong-Jeong went on, "You gave your heart to the future vessel of the Moon Spirit."

"I mean, when you put it that way—hang on. Vessel?"

Another unimpressed look. "Have there been other occasions?"

He was not going to tell this guy about his freaky swamp vision, because everyone in the group had those, and Aang’s turned out to be wrong anyway. Toph had ditched them as soon as she could.

But only Sokka’s had spoken directly to him, even though Yue had been mean about it.

(Deep in his heart, he couldn’t blame her. His mission had been to protect her and he had failed…)

"Nope,” he said straight-faced. Berry-butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

Jeong-Jeong stared at him for a moment, clearly not believing him. "Agni preserve me from children," he muttered.

Sokka bristled. “Hey, I'll have you know I've passed my ice-dodging trials. I am technically a man."

"You are a fool," Jeong-Jeong snapped. "A spirits touched fool who does not allow himself to see what his gifts are telling him."

Sokka felt chill ice flood through his veins. "What are you talking about?"

"The Avatar has found his waterbending, earthbending, and firebending master," Jeong-Jeong scowled and reluctantly touched his own chest. "Did you not consider he was also given a spiritual master? A moral guide? Was it any coincidence you of all people joined this group?"

"Hey, you got the wrong person,” Sokka not only insisted, he _knew_. "I couldn't let my sister go to the North Pole alone."

“Then you are an oaf who has survived so far by luck,” Jeong-Jeong said. “And you have not felt the spiritual shift in the world.”

That stopped Sokka short. He struggled with himself for a few moments because part of him did not want to give the grumpy firebender the satisfaction, but the rest of him…

“You feel it too?” he asked.

“No,” Jeong-Jeong said. “But a great guru in my order has.”

Sokka’s ear’s pricked at that phrasing, but Jeong-Jeong continued, “I had come to the Avatar’s spiritual advisor for clarification.”

“Well, you’re asking the wrong person,” Sokka said. “I’m the plan guy, not the woo-woo spirit guy.”

Jeong-Jeong stared at him as if he could intimidate Sokka into confessing something not true, but Sokka had a little sister. He was a master of staring contests.

Finally, the old master said, “What has changed in the world?”

And suddenly, like that bolt of lightning illuminating the landscape, Sokka _knew_.

“That’s it! Change!” He struck his palm against his head. It had been in front of him all this time. And he was Water Tribe—he should have known change when he saw it. “It’s just—not something specific, not even the potential for something, it’s a physical law. Like magnetism. Like _gravity._ ”

Exultant, he grinned at Jeong-Jeong… who looked utterly flummoxed.

“Then… the Avatar has at last reached his potential?” Jeong-Jeong asked. “To change the tide of war?”

“No,” Sokka shook his head. “Aang’s always been a force of balance, of… order, I guess. Like running downhill.” He nodded to himself, the idea unfolding in his head like the schematics of a war-balloon. ”This is the opposite.”

“So it a bad omen?” Jeong-Jeong pressed.

“Change isn’t good or bad. It just is.”

Again with the staring contest. Only, this time Sokka grinned cheekily back at him, glad to finally put a finger on what had been nagging at the corner of his mind for so long.

Then his grin slipped. Because if he was this certain about the Change in the world, did that mean he was supposed to be Aang’s spiritual aid?

But Aang seemed to do fine with the spirit stuff all on his own. Besides… the idea just didn’t feel right to him. Katara had once confided in Sokka that she _knew_ she was Aang’s true waterbending teacher, even though technically Pakku was the master.

Sokka… he was the meat and sarcasm guy of the team. Aang was like the goofy little brother he never had. Sokka was a practical soul. And practical souls did not become spiritual advisors.

“Change,” Jeong-Jeong repeated, frowning. “I do not understand, but others may. I will consult with them.”

Then, with that spare goodnight, he rose for his own pallet.

Sokka stayed up for much of the night, watching Yue slowly cross the sky. Thinking about Change.

* * *

Sokka got to his sleeping bag late, and woke up mid-morning to Aang’s excited chatter.

“So then I woke up in a snow cave, and Zuko was there. I air-blasted him out—“

Rubbing a hand through his loose hair, Sokka blearily joined Katara. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly so as not to bother Jeong-Jeong and Haru who were listening, rapt.

Katara frowned. “Jeong-Jeong wanted to know what happened at the North Pole. He was asking about Zuko.”

“Why? He left the Fire Nation. Why does he care about his prince?”

She shrugged but looked troubled. Sokka was, too.

It… hadn’t been Sokka’s finest moment. Prince Zuko had come within a bison hair’s length of capturing Aang _again_. Thank goodness the blizzard had slowed him down. They’d known the Moon Spirit was in trouble, and Zuko had put up a fight about being their prisoner for once. (Ha. Irony. How do you like it, ash-eater?)

Sokka remembered that moment. The crystalline bite of cold in the air that told his arctic sense the blizzard was about to blow out, leaving the land colder than before. Zuko, injured and wavering on his feet after being knocked into the ice by Katara. His Fire Nation coat didn’t look all that adequate, and they were running out of time.

In the end, Zuko ran off, and they let him. Sokka had meant to go back and look for the jerk… but the Fire Nation breached the oasis, Yue had given up her life to bring back the moon, and Aang merged with the Ocean Spirit to wipe out the fleet. Between grief, the city clean-up, and Appa’s exhaustion… Sokka hadn’t gone out to look until late the following day.

There had been no sign of Zuko but plenty of suspiciously shaped drifts of snow.

Zuko never gave up, but the tundra was the great equalizer. Sokka had assumed the worst.

Sometimes, in the dead of night, Sokka felt a twinge of guilt over it. Zuko was his enemy. He was the bad guy. But he’d also taken a wallop to the head and had staggered out to the ice to die.

And Sokka had let him.

Aang’s version of the tale didn’t get that dark. In fact, he left Zuko’s fate open-ended.

Judging by the scowl on his face, Jeong-Jeong could read between the lines.

Casually, as he was doing up his hair in a warrior’s wolf-tail, Sokka holstered his boomerang. Sure, Jeong-Jeong was a famous deserter, but the Fire Nation got weirdly protective over their royal family.

“If only things had ended differently,” Jeong-Jeong sighed as Aang wound down. “You made a powerful enemy that night. Not myself,” he added, seeing Sokka’s expression. “But should you meet into a man who calls himself the Dragon of the West in your travels, _run_ the other way. He could have been a great ally, but… I cannot imagine it now.”

“What do you mean?” Katara asked. “And aren’t you coming with us? Aang needs a firebending teacher.”

Aang scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I’m still learning earthbending, so… Maybe I should focus on that, first?”

Yeah right. Aang and focus did not go together.

“Back up,” Sokka said. “Who is this Dragon of the West?”

“Prince Zuko’s honored uncle: General Iroh.”

Katara exchanged a look with Sokka and Aang. “The, um, old heavyset firebender who followed Zuko around everywhere? I don’t think he would ever help us.”

“He did against Zhao,” Sokka remembered.

“Because Zhao wanted to kill the Moon Spirit,” she shot back. “Everyone knew that was wrong.”

Jeong-Jeong cut across their bickering with a slashing hand that trailed smoke. “And you were involved—however indirectly—with the death of his nephew, whom he loved as a son.”

Instantly, the Water Tribe siblings turned to him.

“We tried to help him—“ Katara began.

“He had captured Aang! Again!” Sokka said. “We weren’t exactly best friends!”

“We don’t know for sure Zuko isn’t dead,” Aang said with a faint smile as if remembering an old joke. “He’s really, really hard to kill.”

Now Katara and Sokka exchanged a glance. Katara bit her lip, looking down. She would never give Aang bad news. So, as usual, it was up to Sokka. “Aang, buddy, you know how Zuko never gave up chasing you, no matter what we threw in his path. I think if he were still alive… We would have seen him again by now.”

Aang’s gray eyes widened as he took that in. Then, with a swallow, he looked down.

Sokka both envied and was annoyed by Aang’s eternal optimism. If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t believe that this was the first time Aang considered Zuko might be dead. Plus, he was an enemy, anyway. Not their friend.

But Aang was… Aang.

Haru spoke up. “I don’t know why we need this Dragon of the West guy. The Fire Nation is trouble, anyway,” Haru said and then caught himself, remembering Jeong-Jeong. “Uh, sorry.”

The old master leveled an unimpressed look at him. Haru blushed and looked away.

“I cannot stay,” Jeong-Jeong announced. “I must spread the news of the North Pole who opposes the war. When the Avatar is ready to learn the burden of fire, I will return.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Aang muttered with a guilty look to Katara.

Jeong-Jeong nodded and rose. That was, apparently, all the goodbyes he would give them.

 _Bet he’s running off to tell his ‘order’, whoever they are_ , Sokka thought, imagining a room full of stern Jeong-Jeong’s. Whatever. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to him coming back.

Neither was Aang, judging by the sad slump of his shoulders and the listless way he drew spirals in the sand. Sokka remembered how obnoxiously enthusiastic he had been when he’d first wanted to learn firebending. That had changed after visiting Jeong-Jeong’s village.

That wasn’t right.

Sokka stood, not fully realizing he’d made his decision until he was already running after the old firebender calling, “Master Jeong-Jeong! Wait up!”

Jeong-Jeong turned back to him, one eyebrow raised in disapproval.

Sokka slowed to a stop, rubbed the back of his neck, and cast a glance over his shoulder to the camp. Katara and Haru had moved to Aang’s side to cheer him up. Seeing that firmed his decision. He turned back to Jeong-Jeong.

“Listen, I’m sure you’re a great firebending master, but I don’t think you’re the right teacher for Aang.”

Jeong-Jeong was silent for a moment and Sokka was very aware he had just insulted a firebender.

Then—he didn’t think it was his imagination—a look of pure relief flashed in Jeong-Jeong’s gold eyes. He bowed low to Sokka. Hastily, Sokka returned it.

“I do not disagree.” Jeong-Jeong reached out and dropped something in Sokka’s hand. A lotus tile from a Pai Sho set. “I may not be the Avatar’s teacher, but I am his ally. If you need me, use this to send a message.”

 _How?_ Sokka wanted to ask, but _knew_ Jeong-Jeong would give no answers. Instead, he dropped it in his pocket for later examination and bowed again.

The old master turned and walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my Tumblr for Avatar stuff, memes, and fanfic rambling.  
> awesomeavocadolove.tumblr.com


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